Azed

[zita-green]

3d Former scare: first sign of suttee where it happened? 5 - ?HAS?

[DocHH]

Hello zita,
try GHAST, it is the Shakespearean word meaning to frighten, not sure of the wordplay.

[zita-green]

Many thanks, Doc. You come to the rescue again. I knew about the ghast as in to frighten but I don't get the suttee bit. Thought it might be a town in India but couldn't get anywhere.

[kayakamina]

Gha s t

I see you still need 1a! It is a beaut of a clue.

Regards K

[zita-green]

Thanks, K. Yes, I am struggling with 1a. I don't want the answer, yet, but could you confirm the accuracy of my letters so far? B?B?GHA?????. If this is right I haven't the tiniest hope.

[kayakamina]

Right so far zita.

[DocHH]

Hello again zita,
I don't do Azed, but the following link might help, with this and in the future.

http://www.onelook.com/

You are making real progress, the way you ask questions indicates that, I hope K agrees. I have only been doing cryptic crosswords for 42 years! To be honest, from University days!

[zita-green]

Thanks, doc. A very useful link; it gave me the answer to 1a. I am a fairly recent convert to crosswords (about four years) and I hope to make progress but it sometimes seems so difficult without a decent dictionary. Brain power alone is insufficient. Thanks for your kind words. How come K, Robin and yourself never need help?

[DocHH]

Hello zita,
We probably only do crosswords we know we can complete!? At the end of the day it is more about getting into the head of the Setter, and thinking in the same way.
Keep plugging away, you are getting there.

[kayakamina]

Zita I am astonished that you are doing 'advanced' crosswords ( Azed/Mephisto/Speccie etc) after only 4 years.

Even with all my experience there are times when I find the Inquisitor and the odd EV more difficult than the Listener - the 'holy grail' of crosswords.

As Doc says - keep it up.

[zita-green]

Your words of encouragement are very kind. I just feel so 'thick' when I can't get things right. When you spell it out, it all seems so obvious. It is my nature to be dogged so I'll just keep keeping on. Thanks to both.

[zita-green]

My daughter says that I have been doing crosswords for 7 years, not 4. Time seems to telescope when you are unwell.

[DocHH]

Hello zita,
The wordplay for GHAST has been bugging me. Reference to Chambers, which you really must buy, or put on Birthday/Xmas list, has revealed, the following. Hope you agree with this. A SUTTEE is an Indian widow who burned herself on her husband's funeral pyre. A GHAT, as well as being a mountain pass in India and a landing stair on a riverside is also a place of cremation. So first sign of SUTTEE = S, placed inside where she would have sacrificed herself, namely a GHAT!! I like it when the wordplay works as well as the definition!
Hopefully your daughter doesn't begrudge you doing crosswords, keeps the brain active, even if the body is not as active as it was!

[kayakamina]

Hi DocHH

I could have saved you a lot of time if I had enlarged upon my answer GHA S T yesterday. I imagined that Zita would look up Ghat and realise the S = suttee part.

Sorry, just because I knew what I meant, didn't necessarily mean others did.

Cheers K

[DocHH]

Hello K
At the risk of clogging up Zita's in-box. Zita doesn't have a copy of Chambers and I foolishly only looked at the initial definitions for GHAT in the big red book, and failed to look up SUTTEE! Mea culpa!

I made the same assumptions about about others understanding my meanings quite frequently in my working life! I was sent on a course to correct that. It was called "Teaching Technical People to communicate"!!

Pleased to see people like zita are attempting the advanced crosswords, and I am more than happy to help, unless pipped to the post, by someone like yourself! No doubt our paths will cross again.

TTFN

[zita-green]

Hello K and Doc. I did google suttee but it didn't help.I don't do the Speccie or Mephisto and am fairly new to Azed. I know what you mean about getting to know the setters. I have been doing the Guardian for years and know Paul and Araucaria well. I like Paul for his ingenuity and Araucaria is witty and sly but always fair. Azed is quite a challenge. I am stuck again. Can you help with 19a Like an extra large bra, device with many hooks 8 - L?NG???.